The Portuguese arrived in the Kingdom of Kotte in 1505. By 1594 they had appointed a captain-general to control the Portuguese occupied territory called Portuguese Ceylon on the island of modern-day Sri Lanka. In that time, there were numerous captain-generals until 1658. The post of captain-general was preceded by that of the captain-major in 1551 and before that by the captain in 1518.
| width=9% | Portrait | width=25% | Name | width=9% | Birth | width=9% | Death | width=9% | Governor from | width=9% | Governor until | width=30% | Sovereign |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedro Lopes de Sousa | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1594 | 1594 | Filipe I | ||||||
| Jerónimo de Azevedo | 1540 | 1625 | 1594 | 1612 | Filipe I Filipe II | ||||||||
| Francisco de Meneses | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1613 | 1614 | Filipe II | ||||||
| Manuel Mascarenhas Homem | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1614 | 1616 | Filipe II | ||||||
| Nuno Álvares Pereira | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1616 | 1618 | Filipe II | ||||||
| Constantino de Sá de Noronha (1st time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1618 | 1622 | Filipe II Filipe III | ||||||
| Jorge de Albuquerque | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1622 | 1623 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Constantino de Sá de Noronha (2nd time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1623 | 1630 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Filipe Mascarenhas (1st time) | 1580 | 16.. | 1630 | 1631 | Filipe III | ||||||||
| Jorge de Almeida (1st time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1631 | 1633 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Diogo de Melo de Castro (1st time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1633 | 1635 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Jorge de Almeida (2nd time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1635 | 1636 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Diogo de Melo de Castro (2nd time) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1636 | 1638 | Filipe III | ||||||
| António Mascarenhas | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1638 | 1640 | Filipe III | ||||||
| Filipe Mascarenhas (2nd time) | 1580 | 16.. | 1640 | 1645 | Filipe III John IV | ||||||||
| Manuel Mascarenhas Homem | 1600 | align="center" | - | 1645 | 1653 | John IV | |||||||
| Francisco de Mello e Castro | 1600 | 1664 | 1653 | 1655 | John IV | ||||||||
| António de Sousa Coutinho | align="center" | - | 1668 | 1655 | 1656 | John IV | |||||||
| António de Amaral de Meneses (in Jaffna) | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | 1656 | 22 June 1658 | John IV Afonso VI |